Burning Wounds
by Door Is Ajar
Summary: Mustang and his team are assigned a mission to find five mass murderers who have escaped into the underground sewers of Central. One team member gets hurt, and it's nothing less dangerous than a replay of the Colonel's dreadful encounter with Lust.
1. Chapter 1

_"Quick, get Colonel Mustang!"_

That was all that the team kept screaming, and they all had a reason for it, too.

Their lieutenant, Riza Hawkeye, was currently laying beneath them, blood pouring from a gash on the side of her abdomen and the same coppery substance making a trail from her mouth. She stared straight forward, to the ceiling above (although it was clouded by two worried faces surrounding her), her eyes already halfway shut from the immense bodily-desire to succumb to darkness.

"Just hold on, Lieutenant, the Colonel and the other two will be back soon with medical attention." Jean Havoc. His words made her look above her forehead to see his face.

"Yes, sir..." she practically breathed out.

Her chest heaved itself up and down as air entered and exited her body, her mouth doing the same. She kept blinking, and it was getting on her nerves, knowing how close her body was to losing touch with reality. A few more times and they shut, not opening like the two were hoping for.

"Lieutenant!" Kain Fuery. The poor boy was scared to death himself at the thought she was dead.

But his screaming shook her awake, as she was greeted by now two pairs of eyes who had- from what it looked like- seen death come back to life.

"Lieutenant, I'm going to ask you a series of questions. Just keep answering and talking, alright?" Havoc asked.

"Okay..." she mumbled out.

"What is my name?"

"Jean... Havoc..."

"What's his name?"

She stayed quiet for a moment to breath. "Kain Fuery."

"What is the Colonel's name?"

"Roy Mustang."

"Where are you right now?"

Again she went quiet. She looked him in the eyes, almost wanting him to answer for her. "I... I think underground... A sewer system..."

"Good, what for?"

"To capture a group of... five murderers..."

He didn't have time to answer any further questions, as the sound of boots running towards them echoed off the walls. It only lasted for a few seconds before the two men saw the Colonel running at them, obviously the most worried out of the group with the other two trailing along behind.

"How is she?" he yelled upon coming near them.

He was at her side, another face filling the void above her head. "Not good. She's loosing to much blood," Havoc replied.

Mentally the Colonel was more than freaked out, and he was praying to anyone that would listen that it wouldn't come down to the final option.

"Sir... if she's loosing this much blood, shouldn't we patch it up?" Fuery asked cautiously.

"Believe me, I know... But..." He couldn't take his eyes off of the bloody mess coating her tan coat and brown form-fitting undershirt.

"Don't tell me you're really thinking about doing that..." Havoc asked.

By then the two other men were standing behind the group, listening and refusing to get in their way.

"I might have to... It's just like my own wound with Lust..."

"But, Sir, this is even worse!" Fuery nearly yelped with how shocked and mortified he was.

He practically ignored the scared boy in exchange for looking down at Hawkeye.

"Lieutenant."

"Sir?" Again she breathed out air to talk.

"We don't have much time with how quickly you're losing blood. I'm going to have to cauterize it shut. You alright with that?" The four soldiers around him were frightened at the idea, even more so at how the Colonel's voice betrayed his own fright.

"Y-Yes, sir."

"Alright..." he mumbled, pulling his gloves out of his trench coat and putting them on. He then gently laid his hands onto her own hand, the one holding her side with the wound. "I'm going to remove your hand, alright?" Ever so carefully he lifted her hand off the blood bath. Fuery, with the inability the watch the gore, kept his gaze on her face, which showed a grimace she was trying desperately to hide.

With her hand now resting on the cement, the Colonel grasped the bottom of her brown shirt and un-tucked it to pull it up right below her breasts. He swallowed the bile steadily rising up his throat at the sight of simply how much blood there was, making it nearly impossible to see the actual wound.

He shrugged off his coat, softly applying the cloth to her side to soak up some of the red substance. After quickly repeating the process several times (and stealing Fuery and Falman's coats, as well) he could work with her mangled skin.

"Ready?" he nearly whispered.

All four men stood off to the side on her left and right, a few feet away to stay out of firing range, even if it wouldn't fly away from her skin. They all gulped or stifled a shiver from going down their spine.

"Yes, sir," she repeated.

He brought the glove to her side, not touching the skin. With a snap, fire burned her side, starting to close up the wound. Her pupils shrunk, her eyes doing the exact opposite. She brought her hands quickly to her mouth to mute a scream.

"Someone stuff her mouth!" Mustang yelled, refusing to stop searing the wound shut in case he would chicken out.

Heymans Breda was the first one to react, yanking his top coat off and pulling out a somewhat large white cloth from an inside pocket. He bent down and nearly ran away at her face, stained with tears and her eyes now painfully sealed shut- the only sound being her screams slightly dulled by her hands. He used one hand to grip her hands and pull them away, replacing the cloth inside her mouth instead. Her hands, once released, went immediately back to her mouth to grip at the material.

The man tried to get back up, but he tripped on apparently nothing. His eyes instead stayed glued on the Lieutenant's face. He would of appreciated help from the other three men, but that thought didn't even cross his mind with all of them watching what now seemed nothing more than a little girl.

Mustang, on the other hand, was focused on nothing more than her skin, which he carefully and meticulously continued to close. It took just over a minute for him to finish, which was only on account of his desire to stop burning her for a second time.

With the process done, the grimace on the Lieutenant's face relaxed and her death hold on the cloth dropped. Ragged breaths left her mouth, also muffled back the material. Mustang leaned over her and pulled the cloth out of her mouth.

"Lieutenant, can you hear me?" he whispered.

"Y-Yes, sir..." She apparently couldn't force herself to think of something less repetitive to say, but Mustang could care less as long as she was talking.

"We need to move you now. Just tell me if we hurt you, alright?" He kept asking for permission, like she was the commanding officer it seemed.

"Okay..." she spoke with the assumption she was too tired for formalities.

Mustang stood up and first walked over to Havoc. "Just help me pick her up, I'll carry her on my back..." he mumbled to the man before stepping over to Fuery. "I want you to go ahead of us and make reservations at the nearest hospital."

The shorter man saluted and ran off ahead of them at at full sprint. They soon heard a clanking sound, along with what seemed like claws scrapping occasionally at the ground. A bark came afterwards with the scrapping not stopping. Into their sight came Black Hayate, who they had situated to sit on top of the manhole. A clever move on the Colonel and Lieutenant's part to ward off anyone from even being nosy.

The dog didn't stop until he was in front of Hawkeye, where he brought his head down to sniff her face. She turned her head and looked at her dog with tired eyes, trying to figure out how to make him not worry about her.

"I-It's alright, boy..." she whispered to him. With that he licked her cheek, laying down next to her.

It was quiet for a few seconds as the remaining men stared at the dog, possibly giving Hawkeye more help than all of them could together. "Chief, I would suggest just leaving her here with the dog, but she's gotta get medical attention," Havoc hushed into Roy's ear.

"I know, come on," he quietly replied.

He stepped over to Hawkeye and knelled down next to her. "Lieutenant, are you alright for me and Havoc to lift you up?" he softly asked.

"Y-Yeah... Would... Would it be a problem for me to hold Black Hayate?

The Colonel couldn't help but think she was a little crazy for asking that, but he complied. First he whispered something to Falman, which had him running out the same direction Fuery went and leaving the other men slightly confused. Instead of trying to get Havoc to help, he had the man pick up the dog, which allowed Mustang to pick up Hawkeye bridal-style with her injured side facing outward. Havoc then placed the dog belly-up near Roy's abdomen on Hawkeye's stomach, to which the woman brought her free hand over to pet under the dog's chin.

"How do you expect to climb out of here now?" Breda asked cautiously.

"Don't worry, he should be coming back soon..." Mustang replied with a somewhat distant look.

As if on cue the men heard two sets of boots running in their direction, apparently entering from a different manhole. Within sight came Major Armstrong and Fuery.

"I got him, sir!" the younger man called from slightly behind Armstrong.

Mustang didn't wait a second before stepping directly under the manhole. "Climb up and open the plate," he spoke to Fuery, who continued running until he got to the metal ladder. "And, Major, please use your alchemy to lift us out of here," he requested without taking his eyes off of the halfway unconscious Lieutenant.

"Have no doubts, sir, as my alchemy passed down from generations will easily get you and your team out of these sewers!" he proclaimed. With that the manhole was removed and sunlight started pouring in from above. The major pounded his fists into the ground, and the cement directly below Roy's feet extended upward to lay flat in the place where the manhole used to be.

"Thank the major for me, please," the Colonel yelled to Fuery, who saluted before waiting for the Major to replace the cement and head back down.

Mustang, though, was already off and running to the nearest military hospital with Hawkeye either asleep or headed there and Hayate looking up at him with sad eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Her first day back, to put it bluntly, was torture for her poor self. She had even been warned by Mustang on more than one occasion.

_"I can tell you first hand that the kind of wound you have hurts like mad, but yours sadly is even more sever than mine was. So, on the instance that I find you trying too hard at work, I'll personally escort you out and to your home."_

Moving around was something she thought would never hurt in itself, especially in the case of walking. Stepping into the office after practicing at the shooting range, her military coat in hand and hair still down, was relief to know walking- or any physical labor- was done for the day. She sat down at her own desk and started working on the papers for the day with her coat long forgotten on the floor beside her chair._  
_

She picked up a pen she kept near the paper basket and held it in her hand as she prepared to read the first document.

"To the office of Colonel Roy Mustang: Date of return requested one week from the 11th. The fall..."

The lines started to blur as her eyes came closer and closer to closing in sleep. The dark bags under her eyes gave way of missed sleep, apparently from her want to step down any pain medications (giving way to insomnia) to return to work sooner. The irony in itself forced her to rub her eyes and try again, possibly coherently understanding the actual words she read.

"To the office of Colonel Roy Mustang: Date of return requested one week from the 11th. The fall military gala has issued a..."

Her attempts all proved futile as her eyes shut and her head came down to rest on top of her left arm holding the forlorn paper in place. Within thirty minutes of her embarrassing, unavoidable mishap, the team waltz through the door, chatting about the conversation they were talking about over lunch.

"Give it a rest, no girl is going to-" Breda was speaking, and by the context of "no girl," anyone could assume her was talking to Havoc.

Mustang cut him off when he, the first one to enter the room, spoke over the other man. "Be quiet, all of you..."

With peaked curiosity, the four other men loomed over the Colonel to see what the issue was. Still asleep was their very own Lieutenant Hawkeye, pen still in hand and prepared to write something.

"Aw, poor Hawkeye's all tuckered out!" Havoc cried with a real lack of seriousness.

"Better take a picture, this'll never happen again," was the first thing Breda responded with.

The though of an impending doom rained over then men's heads, and they made their way around the desks to surround the woman. All stayed quiet until Mustang peeled off his trench coat- which he had been wearing more recently due to the use of excursions and the weather deciding not to take a by-pass of the colder seasons- and placed it on top of the Lieutenant.

Four heads looked up to the man with Mustang not bothering to give in to their looks. Seconds ticked by on a clock hanging on the wall before something broke loose.

"Chief, I didn't know you had a heart!"

"Another picture! Two things in one day that we'll never see again in our lives!"

The men were starting to chat back and forth of who knows what when Mustang nearly whispered to them. "Just get to work already..."

The commotion halted and he received four bodies frozen in all sorts of over-exasperated forms. And then, in unison, he was greeted with soldiers at attention and shouting a "Yes, sir!" at him. They then dispersed to their own desks to start their own stacks of paper.

He, too, started on his own work. He would occasionally peek his head above his papers to check on the Lieutenant, who was dead to the world. He had decided to do his work for once, instead of goofing off or spending his time looking through records for personal issues. And the others in the office had copied his actions.

Around two in the afternoon, and after Mustang had figured Hawkeye had been asleep for approximately two hours, the papers had all been finished, including her own that were evenly distributed to the others in the room.

At first, when it was kind Fuery who had suggested it after finishing his stack first, he was given nothing more than apprehensive looks. Not until Falman continued the idea- "She does this all the time for us. One time doing her work won't kill us."- did they start on their second heaping. All were shocked at how quickly their work could be finished on a daily basis, as well as how quiet the office really could be in respect of the sleeping Lieutenant.

The stacks were lined up neatly on the Colonel's desk, and the men were again at salute in the closing of a short workday. He dismissed all four men, to which several gave concerned looks at Hawkeye or a word of advice to "Take care of her, now."

The door shut behind the group, and he was left alone with a person he obviously needed to have a scolding with. He stepped around his desk and planted himself to her right.

"Lieutenant..." he whispered as he gently shook her shoulder.

His response was a quiet "What?", nearly inaudible.

"Don't get up or anything, but you're asleep in the office and have been for two hours." He didn't allow her to jolt up- even though she didn't even attempt it- as her eyes slowly opened to his face. He pulled on her shoulders to seat her in an upright position, her eyes now only halfway open with her brain trying desperately to grasp everything.

"I should get you home. Come on," he softly spoke. Granted it was only two in the afternoon, if felt much later to Roy, what with the other members already home and any requirements to return to the office were gone. The only problem was getting an overly tired (and he hoped not pained) Lieutenant out of the building without much of a fuss in mid-afternoon.

With his hands still on her shoulders, she pushed herself up and used her hands to pull the coat closer to her. He guided her out the door and kept only one hand on her shoulder, obviously more than just a safety net with her brain still half asleep. They escaped without delay and into Roy's car parked behind Central. He situated her in the passenger's side, even buckling her up, before situating himself in the driver's seat to head off.

He swerved around until he reached the road and continued in a straight path for a while. "You know, if I hadn't forced the doctor to make your weaker pain pills into something of sleeping medication, I would think an apocalypse was happening," Roy mused, mainly to himself with his idea of Riza being asleep next to him.

"Can you just explain all this when I'm actually lucid? It's already quite discouraging that I've apparently fallen asleep at work..." she half-way mumbled.

Mustang couldn't contain a pure laugh at how clueless she was. "Big words for someone who shouldn't of even come to work today."

"Lecture me later, sir..." He hadn't realized it, but she had gotten her arms through his coat and was keeping it wrapped around her. Not until he peered over for a mere second to see her eyes closed did he notice just how well his recently discovered plan was working.

_"What happened down there?" Mustang asked as he stepped out of the Lieutenant's hospital room._

_"It's my fault, Sir," little Feury spoke up. All eyes were on him. "We had split up after you left to talk to the other military guard stationed at the entrance to the sewers. It was me and the Lieutenant and then Havoc and Breda. I started to fall behind when I noticed something move in the water, and when I got closer it was one of the murderers. He had a knife in his hand and was coming at me. Hawkeye shot at him, and it more than likely killed him since the bullet went straight to the head and he splashed back down into the water."_

_By now Mustang had made himself comfortable on the bench across from the three others. "She looked at me cautiously, as if she wanted me to hurry up. I got closer to her, but by then another murdered had snuck up behind me. His knife was about to stab me in the head when she... She grabbed me and covered me as he stabbed her side clean through her skin. He had gotten her at least three times before she was able to shoot him dead, too. But by then I... I could just tell she had already lost too much blood, it was starting to drip on to me."_

_"This couldn't of been long after we split up, or else I wouldn't of heard him scream for help," Havoc put in._

_Mustang let out a sigh and closed his eyes, burying his face in his hands. "Whatever you do, don't blame yourself Fuery. She wouldn't of saved you otherwise. But just answer this... Why did she decide to cover you instead of immediately shooting at him?"_

_"He was already too close. The bullet would of hit after he had killed me."_

Mustang couldn't help but feel a little concerned for Feury, too, now that he thought about it. He had been saved by the only female in their team, who he probably looked up to with her unbelievable shooting abilities. Had to be a nightmare to instead get covered in her blood. He saw it, too. It stained his left shoulder and he had streaks of it flowing from the top of his head down the side of his face, probably from Hawkeye crouching on top of him to prevent any blows what-so-ever._  
_

_"She kept grasping me tighter from the pain of the stabs, and at one point she clenched her teeth to stop blood from coming out." That explained why she had a trail of it coming from her mouth. "After she killed him, she asked if I was alright as if... as it I was the one who got hurt." His eyes were starting to get glossy, and all the men could tell he was attempting to keep them from falling. "Then she said sorry, I guess she saw the blood she kind of spit onto my head... The last thing she asked was if I could lay her down and to get help." A few small ones were dripping, and the other two men were having a problem themselves. "She was so calm... I didn't think that was possible for someone who was loosing so much blood... And I think she was doing that just for me..."_

He would have to speak to the Lieutenant about that. She was too kind if she had forced her composure to be so calm for Feury, who had little experience in combat. But as he pulled up to the Lieutenant's apartment complex, he couldn't avoid what he saw._  
_

"So, Lieutenant, do you-" he had turned off the car lights and was taking off the keys when he looked beside himself to see her asleep, her head resting on her left shoulder and puffs of cold breath coming out of her mouth.

He gave a nearly silent sigh as a small smile crept onto his face. "Honestly..." he sarcastically remarked. He unbuckled himself and exited the car into the bitter mid-day cold. He rounded the front of the car before opening Hawkeye's side. He could tell she was bothered by the instant freezing wind when a nearly undetectable grimace crossed her features. Roy decided on unbuckling her and fishing her keys out of her military pants' pocket.

Praying she wouldn't wake up, he lifted her bridal-style out of the car, just as he had done in the sewer system. He shut the door with the back of himself and started his short journey to her own living space.

Inside he was greeted by Hayate, waiting patiently for his master. The dog gave a small whimper while Mustang excused himself to a side room where Hawkeye's bed was. He set her down carefully and pulled a blanket out from underneath the wood structure. As he began unfolding it, Hayate entered and jumped onto the bed, laying next to her on the opposite side of her wound and laying his head on her face, however that was comfortable.

When she woke up only an hour later, she mental began freaking out, until loyal Hayate started to lick her face. She gave the animal a smile and got out of bed. The ground beneath her was cold, and she had to wonder who took off her heavy boots. Out in the kitchen laid a note with her keys.

_"Hope you get to feeling better. And don't worry- I was the one to take you home. All your paper work is taken care of, so try the team's suggestion of staying home tomorrow. -Mustang"_

With that, she crossed back into her room, knowing full well whatever pain-pill-scheme he had made was sure doing it's job right.

* * *

_Author's Note: I think I may do one more chapter... depending on if I can get it right or just pulverize it._


End file.
